For as many positive attributes as the tagline for this Arch Brown/Bud Juneau story on the 1964 Dodge Dart – which originally ran in SIA #188, March 2002 – promised, Brown sure gave quite a few negatives as well. After all, the owner of the restored Dart convertible that Juneau photographed and drove opted to perform a few select upgrades to the car to get it to handle and brake well enough to drive. Still, Brown looked favorably on the car, one of Dodge’s earliest compacts.

29 Responses to “SIA Flashback – Senior Compact: A look at the many positive attributes of the 1964 Dodge Dart convertible”

I always regarded the Dart as a Valiant with Dodge badging but see now that it is its own car. Maybe some shared parts but not that many. Nice car for the most part. I’m sure that it doesn’t suffer in the performance arena.

The cars are platform twins and were developed simultaneously, so neither is derived from the other. They share most of their components under the skin. So much is interchangeable that the Canadian-market models used the front of one with the rear of the other.

When I was growing up my grandmother’s 1st car after moving to Los Angeles was a 1964 Dart 170 two-door sedan, 225 slant six with a push button torqueflite trans. What I thought was really cool was the horn button celebrating Dodge’s golden anniversary – here’s a pic link:

All 1964 Dodges had horn caps celebrating its then 50 anniversary. And this year 2014 being Dodge’s 100 anniversary you would think that Chrysler-Fiat would commemorate this milestone as well, but alas no.

ssuede, the day’s of automakers acknowledging their corporate milestones–even 100th anniversaries–are long gone. Dodge has (yawn, yet another..) ‘special edition’ to mark 100 years, but it’s only a maroon paintjob with black guts on Challengers & Chargers. Visually, it’s nothing special at all. Just another badge-commemoration model like the last 50 or so done over the years…

Compare the 1964 Dart to its size and weight equivalent of fifty years later, a 2014 Hyundai Sonata.

Drag coefficient of the Dart (according to Road & Track of the day) was 0.55 compared to the modern car’s 0.28. The Dodge had a two-watt AM “transistorized” radio powering one 6×9 speaker while the Hyundai has a 104-watt AM-FM-XM-CD-MP3 unit driving four speakers and two tweeters.
My old 170 Dart took 17 seconds to get to 60 mph (Road and Track again) versus 8.1 seconds for my current Sonata. The Dart hit the quarter mile in 21 seconds (67 mph) to the Sonata’s 16 seconds (91 mph).

I fully remember the poor braking of my ’63 Dart, even back in the day. New, it took 208 feet to whoa from 60 mph (R&T). The modern Sonata takes 123 ft. to do the same thing.

In terms of efficiency, the old Dodge got 17-23 mph (R&T) to the 24-35 mpg of the Hyundai, despite the slant six’s 101 hp to the 198 hp of the GDI inline four.

I recently recreated in my Hyundai the 1973 drive I took from Kansas City to Manhattan, Ks. (home of K-State, where I went to school) in my Dart. It was a remarkably similar experience, but I will never go without air conditioning and a real radio again.

Gee Randy, I wanted to compare the ’64 Dart to the ’14 Dodge Touring. It seems that the Dart can blow the door off the ’14 and stop on a dime. Keep buying those So-Not-A-Hondas and there won’t be any Dodges! Unless you want to compare a Charger to your So-Not-A?

Comparing the Ford it would seem the Dart was faster, lighter, & had more braking area. The smaller diameter probably provided less leverage in stopping, though. Thing is, back then, everyone’s brakes sucked. They faded and took a long time. The early disks helped, but only in the last 20 years have they really gotten good. 20-20 hindsight isn’t really that relevant. If you look at similar ’80s cars to early 2000s, they got a lot faster & stopped better. Going from the early 2000s to now, is a whole lot better yet. It is subtle, but cars change with technology and have gotten a lot better. Even emissions are like 99.8% cleaner!

I purchased a 65 Dart GT 40 years ago with some mechanical problems for $50. The previous owner was having problems with the brakes, and engine oil pressure. Several wheel cylinders, a master cylinder solved the brake problem. I rebuilt the 273 V8 myself and replaced the aging tires. The bucket seat interior and exterior looked pretty good and the torqueflite operated correctly. This car became my work car which I drove 90 miles on my round trip to work.

I found that Dodge compact to be an excellent car. It rode quite well on those 13 inch tires and the handling and braking were not all that bad for the day. I remember how well that car could go over a rough railroad track without bottoming the suspension when most of the full size cars of the day (70 – 74) would bounce and bottom. What was surprising was the rear seat room. I am 6-2 tall and I could sit in the rear seat without my knees touching the back of the front seats and without my head hitting the headliner…Something that I could not do in my Dad’s 72 Olds 98 2 door hardtop. I fondly remember that Dart except for the fuel mileage which seldom exceeded 15 mpg.

The ’63 Dart, and all the crisply folded designs that led up to the fuselage styling at the turn of the ’70s, were the work of Elwood Engel, Virgil Exner’s successor. Engel also oversaw the fuselage era, so he wasn’t all angles and creases. (Most people remember him — if they even know his name — for the 1961 Lincoln Continental.)

It’s hard to believe that these Darts weighed just a little more than my 2006 Scion xB which weighs 2550 lbs, the Dart is so much bigger. A 1961 Comet was my daily driver from 1990 to 1998. It was very comfortable and good to drive. The acceleration, braking, handling were completely adequate even though it had no power steering or brakes and a six cylinder engine with automatic transmission.

I had a 64 Dart GT Convertible. I got it out of a gravel pit for $250 with 2 54 Ford 4 Drs. That was in 82. Without much work the Dart /6 ran well and the push button TQflite worked well I drove it for a few years. I needed some funds in the bank and sold it for $1300. I wish I had it back. The son of the original owner bought it and put it in storage. It hasn’t been seen since. I live now with a 68 Valiant Signet. No power anything! It doesn’t even have a place for a radio in the dash. Not even a delete plate. My grandsons want badly.

It always tickles me when people start comparing a 50 year old car to a new one. Apples and oranges. Of course the new car will be better in every aspect, at least it better be! If you really want to do a comparison, how about putting it up against a Chevy II or Falcon of the same vintage?

One thing I’ve noticed about older versus newer is that the ventilation systems in the older cars move way more air through the cabin than any newer car. I guess they figure that everyone uses the air conditioner now so vents are no longer important.

The old way was direct access to outside air. It could be directed over the heater core or condensor, or not. Somewhere in the ’70s (maybe?) the always run all of the air thru the HVAC system, only diverting the outside air to regulate temps.

I had a black 65 Dart GT hardtop with a 273 and torqueflite. Fun car. I also had a 61 Lancer 2dr white with red interior, and pushbutton auto. Would love to have either one of them back. Also a 64 Valiant 2dr slant 6 pushbutton auto. My dad had a 66 Dart 2dr slant 6 A/T. Good memories of these old Mopars, good cars. Would love one for a May-October driver.
I know that the new cars are safer/more efficient/
blah blah.. but I’d rather have one of these. I’d have to google Hundai Sonata just to see what it looked like..

I own (and have for years) a number of Darts, 63 and 64. The 225 is ample, the room is good, and if something goes wrong, I don’t have to plug it into some scanner to tell me. I also have some newer iron. Weight and mileage wise they get about the same, 19-20 mpg. Maybe the best thing about the Darts is NO PAYMENTS TO MAKE!

Just try buying a Sonata (or any other 2014 affordably-priced compact) as a 2-door convertible. Just try repairing the new ones on the side of the road if a serpentine belt breaks or one or more of their many sensors go wonky. I’ll take a ’60’s-era Dart convertible (A/C? Put the top down), any day of the week.

the 64 is the first new car i remember my parents purchasing, i was 6 yrs old i remember walking around on the dealers lot perhaps when it was there for service. I remember that the new cars in back had a wax like coating all over them and me running my fingers through it and leaving streaks in them. They bought this car and we left the next week from rochester ny to go to san fran to visit my aunt. My parents had triple A prepare a “triptik” that took us to many of the state parks along and off the route to california, grand canyon,watched mustangs being built in detroit, petrified forest, brice canyon, redwood forest, las vegas, a trip i will never forget. we sang im henry the 8th I am by hermins hermits all across the country, and i was the oficial pipe filler for my dad (tobacco) which came in handy in my teen years lol

I still own the Dart and it is still a show winner. One other upgrade that was made was to increase the radiator to a 22″ core. When Chrysler added the V8 as a mid year addition they left all the slant six compnents in place until the 1965 model year.

I own a /6 ’66 Dart GT. (the only one here in New Zealand) I am in my mid 60’s and have owned all sorts of cars over the years. I previously had a Falcon convertible and the Dart is a far better car to drive. Much better ride and handling. The car is in excellent condition having had only one owner in America before being imported to New Zealand. It has been updated with carb and exhaust improvements along with a decent stereo system. My wife and I really like the Dart and have no intentions of selling it for quite some time.

After about 300K miles on one of my 63s the 225 got to burning a lot of oil. I pulled it and shoe horned in a 383. What a beast it became. Still have the car but tranny trouble has sidelined it for now. I had a pushbutton 727 to put behind the 383. The brakes are 10″ from a big Dodge. I did this about 20 years ago. If Dodge had done this it would have been a year ahead of Pontiac and the GTO.